By Ann Roosevelt
Microsoft [MSFT] is entering the growing simulation and training world with the announcement of strategic defense and aerospace industry partners that will work together developing new solutions for the military and commercial aviation industry.
The partners include Northrop Grumman [NOC], SAIC [SAI], Lockheed Martin [LMT], CAE [CGT], Adacel and Acron Capability Engineering.
The Nov. 27 announcement was made at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), and follows the Nov. 14 debut of Microsoft ESP.
Microsoft ESP is a new visual simulation platform that brings immersive games-based technology to training and learning, decision support and research and development modeling for military and commercial aviation organizations.
Shawn Firminger, studio manager for Microsoft’s ACES Studio, said: “Partners, customers and systems integrators can use Microsoft ESP to develop high-fidelity, dynamic, 3-D immersive experiences and create visual simulations across many serious learning and training endeavors. And future versions will go well beyond flight capabilities.”
Microsoft ESP consists of an underlying PC-based simulation engine that powers the long selling-Flight Simulator, with development tools and content that models the entire Earth. High fidelity 3D visual imagery is part of the platform as is a configurable user-adjustable weather system, accurate vector data and geography that can be custom tailored.
An After Action Review feature allows recording and review of every action made during a session. Custom missions can be created to tailor simulations to specific training goals.
“We’ve had a number of customer and partner requests over the years to license the Flight Simulator engine, but we decided to go a step further and deliver a full platform, including engine, tools and content,” Firminger said.
While the military and others have long used visual simulation for training. But proprietary simulations can be costly and time-consuming, building from scratch, acquiring licenses for tools and content, stretching into months or years and millions, Firminger said in a statement.
“We’re turning that around and saying here’s a great opportunity to take a full platform of tools, engine and content and build new solutions on top of it, rather than starting all over from scratch each time with the base capabilities you need for a rich immersive experience,” Firminger says. “Our licensing model is unique, and our cost model is unique, allowing developers to deploy a simulation in a shorter time period and for less cost.”
Firminger and his team believe that, by making the development and distribution of mission-critical training tools easier and more affordable, it will greatly expand the breadth of people who can create and consume simulation solutions in the marketplace.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems has chosen the Microsoft ESP visual simulation platform to develop enhanced capabilities for joint military command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR) and route and mission planning. The first target for cooperation will be Northrop Grumman’s joint route and mission planning software architecture.
This project will utilize Northrop Grumman’s existing software to evolve capabilities and enable military route and mission planners to move from 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional (3-D) planning and immersive fly-through.
“Northrop Grumman has years of experience developing and fielding route and mission planning software and is committed to helping evolve an integrated, interoperable system that will directly and significantly benefit mission planners for the U.S. military services, Special Operations Forces, and coalition partners,” Barry Rhine, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems division, said.
Marc Parent, CAE’s Group President, Simulation Products and Military Training & Services, said, “By collaborating with Microsoft, we see an opportunity to develop new markets, new solutions and new channels for our simulation-based products and professional services.”
CAE’s collaboration with Microsoft will include Presagis, CAE’s company specializing in commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation software.
Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support Vice President of Engineering Chester Kennedy said, “As these platforms and tools evolve, we believe we’ll find ways to add value to our customers through higher degrees of realism in our training products and improvements in the ease of scene and scenario development. This could have implications in a variety of fixed and rotary wing flight as well as ground and maritime applications.”
A smaller developer, Acron Capability Engineering has been using Microsoft ESP to develop serious games and simulations for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security using the platform as the basis for a variety of tailored solutions.
“Modeling and simulation is a very competitive market and there are a lot of companies in our space that do what we do,” John Nicol, Acron CEO, said. “As a small company, Acron needs to be agile. We need tools that allow us to create rich content very quickly, and we need simulation worlds that allow us to create a rich and detailed environment that immerses our participants.”
Adacel has created a flight training solution that integrates air-traffic control commands through a speech interface. Traditionally, pilot trainees could learn to control their aircraft through flight simulations, but the only way to realistically learn how to interact with air-traffic control has been in actual flight. Fred Sheldon, Adacel’s CEO said, “We saw this as an opportunity to address a large market for a cost-effective flight simulation with integrated air-traffic control software, which simply wasn’t being addressed by anyone else. Microsoft ESP made that possible by giving us a rapid development process, a robust software platform, and global reach.”
SAIC, meanwhile, is integrating as many as 12 different data streams into its helicopter flight trainer to create a completely immersive experience. “We’re using Microsoft ESP to develop a full six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) motion simulation,” Scot Shiflett, SAIC’s visual systems lead, said. “Using this platform, we have built a multi-channel, 170- degree field review immersive training environment.”
At I/ITSEC 2007, SAIC showcased multiple applications running on Microsoft’s ESP platform–including an A-10 Thunderbolt fixed-based cockpit trainer network with a 6-DOF Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT] 206 helicopter simulator in larger scenarios controlled from the company’s One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF) Objective Simulation System.
Firminger said while Microsoft ESP version one focuses on civil and military aviation training and decision support, Version Two will add support for vehicle operator training, ground operations and other scenarios.
Next, the team will focus on building out an even richer and more complex set of location details–on the water, under the water, inside buildings and cities–gradually moving more deeply into core scenarios that enable Microsoft ESP partners to meet the needs of their customers in this growing market.